What are you listening 2 now?

[Operafreak]

Tchaikovsky & Grieg: Piano Concertos

Denis Kozhukhin (piano)







Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Vassily Sinaisky

[Irons]

Rebecca Clarke: Sonata for Viola (Cello) and Piano.

[The new erato]

No 5 and 6 from this set. No 6 really is a masterpiece. Makes me wondering about supplementing it with the recent BIS cycle.

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm continuing my Mahler journey with the 3rd Symphony, one that I don't know quite as well as some of the others (well it is rather long).

This live Abbado account (from the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1999), if it doesn't quite oust some of the old favourites (Horenstein, Levine, Barbirolli for instance), is a splendid modern alternative.

[Que]

A Spotify intermezzo:



My thanks to Dave (Sonicman) for posting this recording before! 

[The new erato]

The 3rd disc from this set:



Really very, very fine. The Rimski in particular is so joyful and entertaining, but Thuille's sextet is no mean work either.

[Tsaraslondon]

Moving on to the 4th, I'm listening to Szell's classic recording from 1965, though it doesn't quite hold its classic status as lightly as it once did and quite a few recommendable versions have come along since. It's wonderfully played, but does Szell exercise too tight a control? Possibly. I like Judith Raskin's unsophisticated tone and direct manner in the finale though.

For this reissue, Sony added Frederica Von Stade's version of the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Andrew Davis conducting. Of all Mahler's song cycles, this one was probably the most suited to Von Stade's gifts and she gives a lovely performance, bright and youthful in Ging heut Morhen übers Feld but darker in the more dramatic songs and she was in splendid voice in 1978when this was recorded.

[Traverso]

Extremely great performance. The Andante moderato is the best I've ever heard. I'm not ashamed to say it has moved me to tears.

Rightly so,don.t be ashamed  for having great feelings.....

[Traverso]

Dufay

Such a beautiful mass

[bhodges]

I'm continuing my Mahler journey with the 3rd Symphony, one that I don't know quite as well as some of the others (well it is rather long).

This live Abbado account (from the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1999), if it doesn't quite oust some of the old favourites (Horenstein, Levine, Barbirolli for instance), is a splendid modern alternative.

A splendid modern alternative, indeed. (Recently I listened to Haitink's Christmas Day version.) The final movement is pretty glorious.

--Bruce

[Spotted Horses]

Honegger, Symphony No 5, Dutoit



This is a symphony that I really love, but I find that Dutoit's performance doesn't quite get off the ground for me, although it is hard to put my finger on why, exactly. Perhaps it lacks a certain rhythmic snap. Previously I got a lot more enjoyment from recordings by Michel Plasson. My reference recordings are the Markevitch/Lamoureux of DG and the Baudo/Czech on Supraphon.

[Traverso]

Brahms

Symphony No.2 

This recording is from 1954 and therefore naturally in genuine "Mono"

[Mirror Image]

I'm continuing my Mahler journey with the 3rd Symphony, one that I don't know quite as well as some of the others (well it is rather long).

This live Abbado account (from the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1999), if it doesn't quite oust some of the old favourites (Horenstein, Levine, Barbirolli for instance), is a splendid modern alternative.

Pounds the table! Have you heard Abbado's first recording of the 3rd with Jessye Norman and the Wiener Philharmoniker? This is a stunning performance.

[Mirror Image]

No 5 and 6 from this set. No 6 really is a masterpiece. Makes me wondering about supplementing it with the recent BIS cycle.

Nice! I need to continue on with the Stenhammar SQ cycle.

[Tsaraslondon]

Pounds the table! Have you heard Abbado's first recording of the 3rd with Jessye Norman and the Wiener Philharmoniker? This is a stunning performance.

That's the one I meant to go for, but this one, being live, is quite special. It was obviously quite an occasion. The applause at the end, which is given a separate track, is absolutely thunderous. Up until that point the audience had been admirably silent.

[Mirror Image]

NP:

Mahler
Symphony No. 3 in D minor
Helga Dernesch, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Women's Chorus, Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus
Solti

[kyjo]

TD:
As recommended by Cesar (Symphonic Addict), the complete Bergakungen

Alfven
Bergakungen (complete ballet)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Yevgeny Svetlanov
(on Spotify)



Absolutely delightful! Great tunes, stunning orchestration, and a top-notch performance too. Some ballets seem to lose a bit of their effect without the dancing (I listened to Glazunov's complete Raymonda a while back, and while it was easy on the ears in the best of ways, I couldn't help but think something was missing) - but not Bergakungen. Just beautiful music from first note to last. Thanks Cesar!

Pounds the table! One of my favorite ballets. I was also rather disappointed by Glazunov's Raymonda btw, but The Seasons is a different story!

[kyjo]

Just finished, for me, a composer I haven't heard much of at all:

Georges Auric
Phedre (complete ballet)
Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra
Arturo Tamayo
(on Spotify)



A world apart from the first ballet I heard today (Alfven's Bergakungen)! But just as stunningly orchestrated - I was in places reminded of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, but it had a sound world all its own. The orchestra was good but not great - I'd love to hear a top orchestra (say, a Concertgebouw or a Boston Symphony) have a go at it!

This ballet surprised me a great deal - I was expecting something light, frivolous, and insouciant along the lines of Poulenc, Ibert, Milhaud et al but instead it's quite an aggressive and strident work that takes it cue from works like Le sacre and the Scythian Suite. Not easy listening, but rather fascinating!

[Mirror Image]

That's the one I meant to go for, but this one, being live, is quite special. It was obviously quite an occasion. The applause at the end, which is given a separate track, is absolutely thunderous. Up until that point the audience had been admirably silent.

Yeah, I mean there's so many great 3rd performances that it's difficult to choose one sometimes or, at least, for me this seems to be the case. Either of Bernstein's accounts, Tennstedt's live LPO account (on ICA Classics), Levine, Haitink (early Concertgebouw performance), Chailly et. al.

[Karl Henning]

Now for Dennis Russell Davies Haydn CD7

Love that box.